Happy Halloween!

EMPS #9: Happy Halloween!
Halloween is my favorite holiday, I think it is the best holiday of the year! I like the decorations in particular. This Halloween, however, I haven't seen nearly as many Halloween related decorations as in previous years. Let's fix that. Show me all things Halloween! Costumes. Decorations. A photograph of spooky movie posters hanging on a wall. Bowls of candy. Pumpkins. Foggy deserted roads. Plastic spiders. A bubbling cauldron. October 31st circled on a calendar. A fake ghost. A REAL GHOST! A witch and her broomstick. A black cat crossing your path. Anything that says Halloween to you!
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I agree with Carly, I love Halloween!

When I was a little kid and didn't get what I wanted, I always consoled myself by telling myself that when I was a grown up, things would be different, e.g., "I'll let my kids have as many pets as they want, including a monkey," or "Halloween will be a big holiday at my house, and I'll help my kids with whatever costumes they want...", yada yada yada.

I confess I didn't follow through on the plan to run a menagerie for endless animals (unless you count my post-divorce dating life for a while there), but I was always pretty good about Halloween, and offer as evidence the fact that in my house, I have a Costume Closet, with racks of costumes that I sewed for my four kids over the years, from the Vogue pattern, with lining and interlining (what was I thinking?) for ET that I made for Alex in the early 80's to the magician's cape, black satin with red satin lining, that I sewed for Chris in the early 90's, with countless costumes in between. I didn't limit my kids to Halloween for wearing costumes, though. Both my girls regularly pulled tutus over their courdroy's when they were little, and Mike wore Indian headbands and Chris slept in his skeleton Halloween sweats for an entire year, I think.





























































Most years when the kids were little, we had a Halloween party, complete with a mummy wrap on the front lawn as the grand finale at the end. In case you don't know, this involves a case of cheap toilet paper and at least one adult willing to be wrapped...

But my kids are grown and there aren't as many little kids on the block anymore, with the result that there are no longer so many houses with wonderful, elaborate decorations. This includes my own house.



















As always, I've hung up Igor (a vampire who howls and whose eyes light when you clap your hands) from the hook above the bannister in the front hall, and I'll pass out candy tonight from the interactive candy bowl pictured above, that wiggles its fingers and chuckles "Happy Halloween" when the kids reach in, but other than that, there are no other Halloween decorations at my house this year. I'm working from home today, because I wanted to be sure that I'm here on time to pass out candy to the youngest kids, who come by, shyly, for the most part, with their parents when it's still daylight, 4:30 or 5:00.

When my kids were little, somehow I thought that the magic excitement of Halloween was an endless effervescence that I could count on each year, but it turns out that like childhood itself, the magic excitement is all too ephemeral. Of course, it's out there, in whole new generations of trick or treaters, including my grandson, Xander, and yet that's not the same as when you're the mom, planning these things with your very own kiddoes...

Ah well, c'est la vie...Happy Halloween everyone!